By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
The New York Stock Exchange is being sold to a little-known rival in Atlanta for about $8 billion, ending more than two centuries of independence for the iconic Big Board.
"The cash equities business in America has effectively been obliterated," said Thomas Caldwell, chairman of Caldwell Securities in Toronto and a shareholder in the New York exchange's parent company, NYSE Euronext.
The stature of the New York exchange has been dwindling for years because of intensifying competition, a harsher regulatory environment and the declining popularity of stocks as an investment, Caldwell said.
